News | ENMHP-Handbook

Stress Report Germany 2012

Tilia Bousios — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:00:00 GMT

New report by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on work related stress in Germany

The associations between working conditions and mental disorders are widely discussed in science, politics and the public debate throughout Europe. The Stress report Germany 2012 investigates the extent to which employees in Germany are exposed to psychological stress and psychological demands at work. It also focuses on those working conditions which are a resource and have positive effects on the mental health of employees. The report draws on the results of the sixth wave of the BIBB/BAuA employee survey, in which 20.000 workers were interviewed about their working conditions, exposure to work related stress and coping strategies. The survey is carried out regularly since 1979 by a joint effort of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). General findings of the 200 pages report show that the level of perceived stress and stress related health complaints has increased since the last survey in 2005/2006. Main factors for this are multitasking and pressure in time and to perform. The report is available in German with an introduction/abstract in English on the website of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (http://www.baua.de/de/Publikationen/Fachbeitraege/Gd68.html)

Mental Health Promotion Handbooks Valued by Health Promotion Practitioners

Tilia Bousios — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:05:00 GMT

The 9th European IUHPE Health Promotion Conference was held from 27 to 29 September 2012 in Tallinn. The conference aimed to contribute to the development of population health in Europe by offering a means for exchanging information and know-how through debates with scientists, politicians and practitioners in the field of health promotion in Europe.

Mental health promotion issues were discussed in a session called "Innovations in mental health promotion". The Hands-project and the handbook for older people’s residences was introduced during the session by the Finnish project partner, the National Institute for Health and Welfare. The handbook raised much interest among the participants most of whom were not specialists in mental health promotion and questions of its availability were raised. In addition, the audience was interested in handbooks in the other settings, i.e. schools and workplaces. This experience gave a positive feedback of the need for the handbooks not just in mental health promotion work but also in general health promotion practice.

New Publication on Mental Health Promotion Projects

Tilia Bousios — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:47:00 GMT

ENMHP projects on Mental Health Promotion are highlighted in an article from the upcoming book "Arbeitnehmer in Restrukturierungsprozessen – Gesundheit und Kompetenzen erhalten (Workers in restructuring – maintaining health and competencies).

Restructuring-processes can have negative effects on the health of workers. The upcoming book "Arbeitnehmer in Restrukturierungsprozessen – Gesundheit und Kompetenzen erhalten" (Workers in restructuring – maintaining health and competencies) discusses the consequences and opportunities for employees, facing restructuring in their organizations. The main focus lies on psychosocial risks and mental health of employees during and past phases of fundamental organizational change. Rena Hohenstein and Jörg Michel, representing the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the Mental Health Promotion projects contributed the chapter "Neue Instrumente zur Förderung der psychischen Gesundheit in Restrukturierungsprozessen – organisationale Maßnahmen und individuelle Kompetenzentwickung" (New Instruments for Mental Health Promotion in restructuring – organisational measures and individual competencies). The article highlights how the ProMenPol-Database, the Mindhealth Learning Programme and the Mental Health Promotion handbooks can be used to maintain and foster the mental health of employees in change- and restructuring processes. The book is published by W.Bertelsmann Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany and will be available from October 2012 (ISBN: 978-3-7639-4959-5).

Face-to-Face Trainings in Educational Settings in Estonia

Tilia Bousios — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:25:00 GMT

Throughout 3-year period, MHP-Hands will produce a set of handbooks and training materials’ implementation for mental health promotion. MHP-Hands project completed the first versions of the Handbooks for specific setting - educational setting, workplaces and older people residences. Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute implemented the first face-to-face session of MHP-Hands Handbook field trials in educational setting.

The aim of the face-to-face training educational setting was to: 1) Introduce the MHP Handbook and assist the participants to get an overview of the content of the MHP Handbook 2) Able to participants to implement MHP related topics in educational setting 3) Motivate participants in practicing MHP and developed exercises from the MHP Handbook. In total, two schools and 50 participants were included in the first session of field trials in Estonia: Arte Gymnasium in the 21.03.2012 (38 participants) and Lääne-Viru College in 28.03.2012 (12 participants). Participant’s attendance of the face-to-face sessions was voluntary. According to feedback of participants we can say that participants were satisfied with the contribution of the 1st training session in complementing the knowledge on mental health promotion. 28 participants from 32 in Arte Gymnasium and 11 participants from 12 in Lääne-Viru College said that they are “Very satisfied” or “Satisfied” with the contribution of this training session. Participants added: “A got a good exercises about changing environment more cheerful and peaceful in classroom”; “I found out games what I could use in classroom”; “I can supplement my knowledge’s, and I’m very interested in mental health”; “Knowing that topic is very important and needs continuous approach”. The one aim on face-to-face session was to introduce some practical exercises that are appropriate for children in classroom. According to feedback of participants we can say that participants evaluated the exercises performed in 1st session appropriate for using in classroom. 29 participants from 32 in Arte Gymnasium and all 12 participants from Lääne-Viru College said that exercises were “Very appropriate” or “Appropriate”. Hopefully this positive experience will encourage teachers to use exercises in classroom. Participants added: “Practice makes things easier to remember. It makes better connection and helps to do exercises by myself”; “Good exercises create a climate about topic under discussion, they give a lot for theory”; “Activities were in accordance with examples of handbook”. The second face-to-face sessions in Estonia will be organised in June 2012. During the field trial period the participants will read the MHP Handbook and give feedback and fill out the questionnaires of evaluation.

Invitation to Take Part in the Mental Health Promotion Field Trials

Tilia Bousios — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:56:00 GMT

The MHP Hands Team is planning to evaluate each of the Mental Health Promotion Handbooks through Face-to-Face Training Field Trials with the appropriate target group members. We would appreciate your assistance in assessing the usability and practicality of these handbooks and wish to invite you to participate in the Face-to-Face Field trial of the Handbooks.

The MHP Hands Team are developing Mental Health Promotion Handbooks for three settings, namely:

Schools (for Teachers and administrations)
Workplaces (for Human resources (HR) professionals, management representatives and occupational physicians in the workplace)
Older people’s homes (for Care workers, doctors, administrative staff and caregivers in older people’s living environments).

The project aims to inform practitioners about the factors critical to mental health maintenance and promotion and to initiate, implement and monitor policy and programme development within their organisations.

We are planning to evaluate each of the Mental Health Promotion Handbooks through Face-to-Face Training Field Trials with the appropriate target group members. We would appreciate your assistance in assessing the usability and practicality of these handbooks and wish to invite you to participate in the Face-to-Face Field trial of the Handbooks.

Depending on your area of expertise, it may be possible for you to attend the face-to-face Field Trials in your respective countries or if you are interested we can send you a copy of the handbook you are interested in evaluating.

If you would like to support the development of the MHP-Hands programme, please contact Isabelle Jeffares at the following email address: i[dot]jeffares[at]wrc-research[dot]ie

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Isabelle. We very appreciate any assistance you can offer us on this project, thank you.

Finnish Field Trial Started

Tilia Bousios — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:03:00 GMT

The National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland has started the field trial of the Mental Health Promotion Handbook for the Older Peoples’ Residential Setting.

The field trial was launched by organising the 1st face-to-face training sessions. Two half-day sessions were held: one in Helsinki on February 8th, and one in Tampere on February 23rd. Five participants attended the session in Helsinki and 17 in Tampere. The participants represented various oraganisations that work with older people and mental health issues such as psychiatric hospitals, private care homes for older people and NGO’s proving home help and day centres for older people.

The aim of these 1st face-to-face sessions were to introduce the Hands project to the participants, familiarize them with the MHP Handbook for the Older Peoples’ Residential Setting and enable them to implement the MHP related topics and exercises from the MHP Handbook in their own setting.

The participants practiced few exercises during the session encouraging them to implement them in their own setting. This exercise implementation should take place between the 1st and the 2nd face-to-face sessions. They were also given a checklist which will help them to evaluate the handbook and its content – its usefulness and relevance.

The participants seemed interested in the topic and emphasised that promoting mental health of older people forms the core of their own work. The feedback from the sessions was positive: the participants felt that promoting mental health of older people is a very important issue and that the exercises practised were simple enough and easy to implement. They all felt that they can easily implement some exercises from the handbook in their own work setting.

The 2nd Face-to-face sessions will be held in Helsinki and in Tampere in the beginning of May. The main focus of these sessions will be the feedback from participants regarding the Handbook and its usefulness and possible further development ideas.

1st European Conference of Mental Health Nursing

Knol Kamila — Wed, 18 May 2011 10:26:53 GMT

On May 23-25, 2012 in Helsinki (Finland) will be a First Conference of Mental Health Nursing entitled "Collaborating Practice and Research." Conference is organised by: - Finnish Nurses Association - Turku University of applied science - Key to the Mind - Southern Finland`s Mental Health and Substance Abuse services development project - Hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa - University of Turku

Irish Validation Workshops Completed

Tilia Bousios — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:58:00 GMT

The Irish validation workshops for the school and workplace settings were completed earlier this week. Postponed from December last year due to problems of snow in Dublin, 16 people took part in the workshops. The findings from the workshops largely confirmed those obtained from the initial focus groups. From the schools setting, a very important piece of advice was that the MHP-Hands manual should not involve extra work for teachers –there is very little spare time to undertake initiatives and any MHPHands initiative should fit in with existing programmes.

For the workplace, one of the major issues that need to be tackled is the low level of awareness of mental health promotion. In addition, there is a need to recognise that some mental health promotion may already be taking place, especially in relation to stress prevention programmes.

The findings from the validation workshops will be made available on this website shortly.

Finnish Validation Completed for Hands Project

Solin Pia — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 10:10:00 GMT

National Institute for Health and Welfare completed the validation for Mental Health Promotion Handbooks by executing a group interview for ageing family carers. The results were in line with the previous results from the group interview of elderly women. The participants emphasised for example that the professionals should concentrate on the basic interaction skills with respectful communication and treatment in order to promote their mental well-being.

The National Institute for Health and Welfare has completed the Finnish validation for Mental Health Promotion Handbooks by executing a group interview for ageing family carers (65+). This group interview was the second part of the validation which began with a group interview of elderly females. The participants were recruited with the help of The Association of Care Giving Relatives and Friends and it was arranged on January 18th in Pasila, Helsinki.

Six participants attended (four females, two men) the group discussions. Five of the participants were, or had recently been, family carers for their spouse. One of them took care of his former colleague.

The group discussion aimed to focus on themes of mental health of older people, as well as on preferred roles and tasks of professionals working with the elderly. The opinion of the possible contents of the Handbook was also requested from the family carers.

As these themes aimed to concentrate on older people’s mental health in general, the perspective of family carers and those receiving care were also taken into account, as this perspective was also thought to be extremely important and rarely dealt with.

The factors maintaining and promoting mental health were in line with the results of the first validation group interview. However, the ageing family carer’s group face various specific factors which negatively affect their mental health. These factors include the:

Loss of their spouse and relationship;
Loss of the future plans and dreams as well as having to struggle with daily routines which are attached to the role of family carer (e.g. taking care of the paper work, filling the forms, etc).

These factors were considered to be both tiring and exhausting to family carers.

When discussing the MHP roles and tasks of professionals, both validation groups expressed a very different perspective than was presented in the focus group interviews.

The approach of the validation groups were more practical yet equally important. It clearly showed that the promotion of mental health in older people’s setting is done by basic tasks which can be summarised as:

Receiving respectful treatment and communication;
Spending more time with the elderly; and
Having support from the professionals.

These issues were considered to have most effect on mental well-being. It was emphasised that these issues together with humane interaction with older people should be taught to those working with the elderly.

Furthermore, in the group of ageing family carers it was emphasised, that the factor which would maintain or promote their mental health the most, would be the professionals understanding of the uniqueness of families. This understanding would directly affect not only the mental health and well-being of a carer but the aging care receiver.

These valuable points should be taken into consideration when designing mental health promotion handbooks.

Focus Group in Polish School Settings

Knol Kamila — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:02:00 GMT

Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) conducted a focus group discussion in school settings. We have carried out interviews and gathered the opinions of headmaster, the teachers’ board, and other specialists connected with school.

In Poland we have conducted two focus groups in two schools: Special education school – 7 persons and Primary school – 6 persons. It is important that in Polish schools mental health promotion is one of the formal tasks that should be implemented in schools. Since that some of the roles are legally imposed on certain staff members.

Results of the the Estonian Workshop and Focus Groups

Tilia Bousios — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:52:00 GMT

Results of the Estonian Focus Groups where participants included teachers, psychologists, pedagogues and other school staff.

Schools are social places where influence of teachers, families and communities need to be considered while addressing pupil`s development and growth. The school management and staff need to know the importance of mental health and have to believe in values of mental health promotion.

Participants at our workshop were teachers, psychologists, pedagogues and other school staff. focus groups had common attitude and opinions about roles, activities and professionals involved with mental health promotion programmes, and about required level of knowledge and skills in mental health promotion programmes in schools. Participants from focus group seemed as very interested in the topic. Both focus groups were very interested in legislation with respect to child, criteria (tools) for assessing mental health and common basic knowledge in mental health promotion and implementing mental health promotion strategies.

Focus Group and Interview Results for the Workplace Setting

Tilia Bousios — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:40:00 GMT

Within the context of the project the German partner, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), conducted a focus group discussion and carried out interviews to gather the opinions of experts and designated users.

Needs analysis plays an important role in the MHP-Handbook project. Within the context of the project the German partner, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), conducted a focus group discussion and carried out interviews to gather the opinions of experts and designated users. Every partner strongly emphasized the increasing problems of mental distress and psychosocial hazards in the workplace and the negative influences this can have on the performance of the workforce.

Focus Groups Emphasized the Importance of Mental Health Promotion of Older People

Tilia Bousios — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:04:00 GMT

News about the group interviews held by THL Finland regarding the mental health promotion in older people's setting.

The MHP-Hands Needs Analysis Focus Groups were held in Finland by National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) in September 2010. The first group interview was held in THL Helsinki and consisted of 7 participants from various organisations from the older people's setting. The second one was conducted in Harjavalta Hospital, where 5 participants from different sectors of older people services attended. The participants were asked to complete three exercises which concerned mental health promotion activities and their tasks and roles of those involved in providing older people's services.

The information collected from the focus groups was very useful. Information was collected from exercises and group discussions. The participants gave their opinion about the strengths and weaknesses of implementing mental health promotion intervention including the roles of staff. These results are being used to identify the areas areas which most need training.

Additionally, a group interview of older people was held on November 2010. This group consisted of 7 people of 65+ years and a representative from the Pensioners Organisation. The aim of this group interview was to find out how older people understand the concept of mental health and how their mental health and well-being could be promoted.

The overall results were good and proved the need for mental health promotion interventions. In all the groups the issue was considered interesting and it raised a lot of discussion. A project which aims to promote mental health of older people was considered to be very important and highly needed.